RichardH 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 This year is really taking a toll on me. I don't know how you guys do this year after year. It just seems like so much work for one person to do. Luckily I had a friend and his son come over on a couple of days to help me out but I am pretty much doing everything Solo. I was wondering about others. Who does their entire display by themselves? Who has a lot of friends that pitch in? Do you get your brothers/sisters and other family involved? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Luke Kamp 1 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 My family doesn't help...I do it all myself. This year, my dad decided to get on the roof and help me put up about 200 C9s...so that was nice. My parents just buy some of the stuff...they don't really help. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Texan78 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I do it all by myself unfornately. I am like you it takes a big toll on me. I am so no motivated this year becasue I am looking forward to getting my LOR next year, but I got a lot knocked out todayand set a goal to acomplish today and reached it and more so I am happy. I am just so worn out though with Halloween then no time to rest have to get it put away and get the yard cleaned and start getting ready for Christmas. I wish I had some help. My 4yr daughter helps a little bit but not much she can do. It takes more time setting up the 18+ inflatables then it does to put up the 350+ C9s. So to anwser your question it is all on me and trying to get it all done between work. It is a lot of work but worth it in the long run. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Therberg 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I am doing the display mostly by myself, this is the first year with LOR and a big display,60,000 minis. My wife did help open and detag the lights but I am doing all the building and wrapping and wiring. She was going to do some of the sequencing but is very busy finishing her masters project. I thought I started early enough to get everything done but it is taking longer than I planned and as of late the weather has not been helping. By the look of your animation window in another thread you have really expanded your display, is the Mega tree now 16 channels per color? I can't wait to see the videos of this yearsdisplay. Tim H. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jbone64 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 By myself , but wife doesn't mind taking credit when people stop and say how nice the display is. Kids just watch and just say are you done yet... Jared Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nmonkman 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I have 4-5 little helpers. They are kids from the neighborhood that stop by and help me open boxes of lights, sort them into different groups, hold stuff for me, all kinds of simple things. Over all they probably save me 8-9 hours in the 3 weeks it takes to get set up. I would not have made it this year by Sunday if it weren't for them. The nice thing is, I don't have to ask, they just show up. It's fun to watch them all work together. They made me some hand drawn cards this year. Unfortunately all the hard lifting and climbing is done by me. But hey, these kids are gonna get big one day!! LOL Neil Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snowlovergeorgia 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I had my Brother in Law help me...It is alot of work.....It seems sorta slow this year with the visitors roo. Maybe its because its early still...I dont know... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott Loftus 2 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 This year, I had a lot of family and friends help out with the heavy stuff. Since my back surgery this past July, I can not lift items over 20 pounds. So friends pulled through this year to make Xavierlights happen. My father also halped out with getting the lights ready. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peggy13 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Last year I got lucky and had a friends daughter help me one day and that really made a difference. She was 10 than. She wanted to help this year but it just didnt work out with her schedule and mine. I did have my sons g/f help out 1 day setting up blowmolds. Other than that I have always done it all 100% solo. I just wished I had someone to climb the roof so I could put lights on the peak and whole frame like I use to at the old house. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
larrytcupp 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 My brother and sister in law come down from ohio every year to help me set up. (could not do by myself)they spend the week I take my vacation and we go at it. this year I went animated and had six big bells to mount on roof so since none of us are kids anymore I hired mysons nephew to carry frames , sand bags, and mounting frames up 2 stories and do the wire ing for the lor. took 5 days. we setup about 60,00 lights (mini and c-9) and run extention cords and made cords for 64 channels looks good BIG thanks to my in-laws Larrytcupp Quote Link to post Share on other sites
i1uhrace 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I do most of it by myself. My only help is someone holding my ladder and occasionally running to grab misc. items etension cords, staples, strings of lights. My display is fairly small this year because I made the switch to LEDs and couldn't afford much I was only able to pic up 6 cases. Next year I hope to have at least 48 more channels and 10 more cases of LEDs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
derrickb 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I am also a one man show. This year has been tough as the wife has pneumonia and I have been trying to get the show up and going while taking care of her, the two kids, and the new puppy. I keep muttering to myself, "Why do I do this?" I know the answer, but it's still taking it's toll. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Toymakr000 1 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Well This year I am again doing it by myself. Although I have someone starting to get interested:D This is my oldest son Alec.....He's 9 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tim_L 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I fly solo here too. My wife helps with little stuff here and there but for the most part, it is just me putting the stuff up and taking it all back down again. It is most definately taking a toll on my body. Knees hurt, fingers hurt, back hurts etc. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep doing this by myself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichardH 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Therberg wrote: By the look of your animation window in another thread you have really expanded your display, is the Mega tree now 16 channels per color? I can't wait to see the videos of this yearsdisplay. Tim H. It is 8 channels per color. Last year it was 8 for White and 4 for Red and 4 for Green. Next year I plan on adding more channels to the megatree. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichardH 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I fotgot to give mention that my wife really did help me out this year. She did open and detag a lot of lights and wrapped a few of my wire trees. Couldn't have been so far along without her. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaddyALJ 3 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 This is our 1st year doing animation using LOR. I got my 32 channel system in June and set it up in the basement on a couple of card tables and plugged in a string of lights to each channel. From there on it has been a family project. It seems my 3 kids (27, 23 & 14) and my wife have all made contributions. When it came time to set it up, I used a week of vacation and started putting out lights. My wife would help me while I was up on the roof by hooking lights on to a rope so I could pull them up and then help me move ladders. I put in a lot of hooks to hang lights on and extension cords on and whoever was there at the time would help bring stuff or help move the ladders. My 14 year old daughter was a tremendous help. When it came time to plug in all of the cords to the controllers, she did every one. My son helped make extension cords.It seems like when it came time to make our "Listen To The Lights" sign, I got help from everyone at one time or another.Everyone helped look for bad bulbs and change them out.It really has been a family effort and without everyone of them helping, I know I would not have been able to accomplish my goal of turning on the lights the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We made it and it has been spectacular so far. People have been coming to watch every night, and for me, That is the payoff for everyones hard work. I can see how doing it all by yourself would make you think twice about doing it all over again. I take my hat off and salute all of you who do it alone. Cheers........ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
amazingchristmas 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I have Several helpers at different times everybody has different things going on this time of the year,from ball games with the kids.to other events such as the fall festivals. We get help when we where we can. we added a lot of arches this year in our diplay got all of the gold done 1 day before the show, plus we had to wait on wire and more plugs.Great Help! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Randi 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 My partner Kauleen helps me 100%! She doesn't mind setting up the stuff in the yard/roof all that much - it more connecting the extension cords and finding out what I want to go with what - that is the pain in the butt for her (and causes the most strife!) My dad helps if he is around.....and will be on Saturday for the last minute preparations. Last year we had a little kid in the neighborhood come help set up some candy canes also - kids sure enjoy it! Randi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compucard 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I get some help from my wife but not on the roof most of the time I have to fly solo, this year we got extra help from the neighbor across the street, on all of the ground level stuff my wife is right in there. Rick http://www.lightsforchrist.net Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sniggle 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I consider myself lucky because my wife works as hard on the display as I do! She is the creative force behind most of the layout. We drag all of the stuff out of storage and onto the lawn then work together putting it all up. This year our 8 year old son started to give us a hand with the small stuff. The only parts I do solo are planning the circuits and plugging them in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
michael b 1 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Most years I do 90-95% of the display myself. This year my two daughters have been helping a lot. My 14 year old son even helped a little. :shock: My wife helps with design (maybe 45-60 minutes.) It has been nice getting more help this year. It is more of a family display. I still do 70-75% alone. This has been my funnest year. I am up to 37,070 lights. I have 38 tree trunks wrapped. Michael B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Push Eject 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Seems most of us are loners and I am no exception. The kids *want* to help... maybe someday when they're a bit older: Cheers, Charlie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dougd 0 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 In years past I have done 100 percent of the outside decorating, This year my 15 year old daughter helped a little bit. She ran the drill when I was wrapping the PVC for my driveway arches and she did decorate one tree, every little bit helps, but it was me alone for about 95 percent of it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stephen Blue 25 Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I do get a good ammount of help from all kinds of sources. As far as basic construction of the display goes, my Dad is key. He helps with a number of the trees (especially the Mega Tree) and also assists in various other electrical dealings. Mom comes out as well and helps with putting up some lights and is a huge help in doing string repair and waterproofing. One of the agents at the office I do my display at also has been a big help this year, coming out and helping raise the scaffolding, letting us use his pickup truck to haul things, and being there for general assistance. Our neighbor also came out and helped with the Mega Tree. Speaking of scaffolding, theres the family friend who does custom home consturction that let us borrow some of his scaffolding for the job. And then of course, theres our friends at the seafood store next door who give me a huge helping hand by letting me pull a 200' cord across the field and use a 20 amp circuit for the display. (They even offered to let us hook into the 1200amp LP generator sitting even closer - but I'm a little far off from needing that extreme!) So yes, I get alot of help. Granted I'd say I probably do 80% of the work, and 99% of the design & planning, but I couldn't do it without thehelp. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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